Category: Research

10 May 2019

“The Best Laid Plans…..”

“The Best Laid Plans…..”

We were so excited to begin our controlled experiment looking at the horses pastured with and without chickens.  The pasture was chosen, the chicks were reared and a smaller mobile coop was constructed.  We did not anticipate that the chickens would be reluctant to leave the coop and forage in the field.  We suspect the chickens may be too young to begin foraging and this has disrupted out experiment.  The equine department will continue to monitor ticks to collect data on numbers and will also collect data on the chicken behavior.  This information will be used to strengthen future experiments.

–Jennifer

01 May 2019

Where the Wildflowers are…

Where the Wildflowers are…

Being in the woods daily has given me a perspective on spring ephemerals that I have not experienced before.  In the past, I would generally hike in the woods around April and “see what was blooming”.  This year, I watched leaves emerge from the ground and in some cases knew exactly what flower was coming, but in other cases I had to wait several weeks for a flower in order to identify the species.   The mottled waterleaf leaves emerged early but I saw no blooms until May. In some cases, I was waiting for a bloom that did not arrive (wild leeks- thank you Team Nature for that tip).  Mayapple poked up its stems over the course of one weekend and I missed the bloodroot flowers completely.  But now I have a better sense of what wildflowers are on the property and where they are blooming.

–Jennifer

Yellow trout lily blooming amid the invasive lesser celandine.
08 Apr 2019

Grass-Finished Beef Nutritional Study Publication

Grass-Finished Beef Nutritional Study Publication

Our research manuscript “A Nutritional Survey of Commercially Available Grass-Finished Beef” has been published in Meat and Muscle Biology™ , the official publication of the American Meat Science Association. 

Read the whole manuscript online or download a pdf copy.

From the abstract: Consumer interest in the source of their food, its environmental footprint, and the impact of diet on health has supported the growth of the grass-finished beef (GFB) industry. Studies have concluded that GFB has distinct nutritional differences from conventionally-finished beef. As the GFB industry continues to expand, it is vital to continue to explore the nutritional complexities and variation in the product. To achieve this, a survey of grass-finishing production systems throughout the USA was conducted, and beef finished on the participating farms was analyzed for its nutritional composition, including fatty acid (FA), mineral and fat-soluble vitamin contents. Samples were analyzed from 12 producers and annual production capacity of farms ranged from 25 to 5,000 cattle, with a mean age of cattle at harvest of 26.8 ± 2.30 mo. An array of finishing diets included grazing exclusively in perennial pasture, incorporating annual forage crops, and feeding a variety of harvested forages with supplementation of non-starch feed byproducts. Beef muscle tissue FA content was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The mean ratio of omega-6 (n-6) to omega-3 (n-3) FA in samples varied significantly by producer, ranging from 1.80 to 28.3 (P < 0.0001), with an overall sample set median of 4.10. A selection of minerals including iron, magnesium, and potassium were analyzed by ICP emission spectroscopy and mineral content significantly differed by producer for all minerals (P < 0.001). Mean α-tocopherol and β-carotene content was 610.6 µg/100 g beef and 32.2 µg/100 g, respectively. The amount of these antioxidants also varied between producers (P < 0.0001), but tended to be greater in beef finished solely on fresh forages. This survey indicates that commercially available GFB can vary in nutritional composition due to the diverse practices used to grass-finish cattle.

20 Feb 2019

The “honeysuckle woods”

The “honeysuckle woods”

In 2017, the research team identified the “honeysuckle” woods on the property where the honeysuckle removal project will happen.  Three main treatments (basal spray, hand cut stems and mechanical removal) will be applied to different areas of the woods and the impact on vegetation and seedlings monitored.  A separate property in Indian Hill will remain untreated and serve as the control for the experiment. The main treatments will then be subdivided into additional treatments. In the basal spray treatment the honeysuckle skeletons will be left standing in some locations or removed the following spring.  There is some evidence that standing dead honeysuckle protects emerging tree seedling from deer browsing. The hand cut stems will either have herbicide applied to the stumps or this application will be delayed until fall when a foliar spray will be applied. Finally the mechanical cutting of the honeysuckle will be followed by spraying while other areas will see a delay and foliar spray applied in the fall.  Subsequent monitoring will help us determine which treatment is most effective at producing a thriving community of tree seedlings and native vegetation.

Image A shows hand cut stems sprayed with herbicide and image B shows the result of large scale mechanical removal of honeysuckle.  The research team is collecting data on what happens next after different honeysuckle removal strategies are employed.

Image A
Image B